Puget Sound's deepest daylight low of 2026 is −3.8 ft MLLW at Seattle (NOAA station 9447130) on Tuesday, July 14, at 11:20 AM. Of the eight deepest daylight lows of the year, exactly one lands on a weekend: Sunday, July 12, a −3.16 ft low at 9:40 AM. If you can't take a weekday off, circle July 11–12 and August 9. That's most of the list.
When are the deepest daylight lows of 2026?
One run in mid-July does most of the work. Seattle's eight deepest daylight lows of the year all fall within two clusters — July 12–16 and August 10–12:
| Rank | Date | Day | Low (ft MLLW) | Low time | Walkable window | Weekend? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jul 14 | Tue | −3.80 | 11:20 AM | 8:50 AM–1:55 PM | — |
| 2 | Jul 13 | Mon | −3.68 | 10:31 AM | 8:00 AM–1:05 PM | — |
| 3 | Jul 15 | Wed | −3.49 | 12:08 PM | 9:45 AM–2:35 PM | — |
| 4 | Jul 12 | Sun | −3.16 | 9:40 AM | 7:15 AM–12:10 PM | Yes |
| 5 | Jul 16 | Thu | −2.73 | 12:55 PM | 10:40 AM–3:10 PM | — |
| 6 | Aug 11 | Tue | −2.63 | 10:19 AM | 8:05 AM–12:35 PM | — |
| 7 | Aug 12 | Wed | −2.48 | 11:07 AM | 8:55 AM–1:20 PM | — |
| 8 | Aug 10 | Mon | −2.40 | 9:26 AM | 7:10 AM–11:45 AM | — |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9447130 predictions.
Port Townsend (NOAA station 9444900) runs the same script 53 to 56 minutes earlier: its deepest daylight low is −3.48 ft on Tuesday, July 14, at 10:25 AM, with −3.48 ft on the 13th, −3.10 ft on the 15th, and −3.10 ft on Sunday the 12th.
Notice the drift in the table. Seattle's low steps from 9:40 AM on July 12 to 10:31, 11:20, 12:08, then 12:55 by July 16 — about 47 to 51 minutes later each day. That drift is the villain of the next section.
How many of the deepest lows land on a weekend?
Count the weekday column above: two Mondays, two Tuesdays, two Wednesdays, one Thursday, one Sunday. That's 1 weekend day out of 8, or 12.5%. Run the same count on Port Townsend's four deepest daylight lows (July 14, 13, 15, 12) and you get the same lone Sunday: 1 of 4.
This isn't bad luck; it's arithmetic. Deep lows arrive in runs of four or five consecutive days around a new or full moon, and each day's low lands roughly 50 minutes later than the last. A run occupies whatever stretch of the week it occupies — and five consecutive days can touch at most two weekend days, usually fewer. In 2026 the big July run opens on a Sunday and spends its deepest three days on Monday through Wednesday.
Here's everything worth circling on the weekend-and-holiday calendar:
| Date | Day | Seattle low | Seattle window | Port Townsend low | Port Townsend window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 11 | Sat | −2.29 ft, 8:49 AM | 6:35 AM–11:10 AM | −2.36 ft, 7:58 AM | 5:20 AM–11:10 AM |
| Jul 12 | Sun | −3.16 ft, 9:40 AM | 7:15 AM–12:10 PM | −3.10 ft, 8:47 AM | 6:00 AM–12:10 PM |
| Aug 9 | Sun | −1.91 ft, 8:29 AM | 6:20 AM–10:45 AM | −2.05 ft, 7:38 AM | 5:00 AM–10:50 AM |
| Sep 7 | Mon (Labor Day) | −0.93 ft, 8:12 AM | 6:25 AM–10:05 AM | −1.11 ft, 7:20 AM | 5:00 AM–10:05 AM |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9447130 and 9444900 predictions; Labor Day 2026 falls on Monday, September 7.
All four score 77 or better on our 0–100 window scale; July 11 and 12 score a flat 100 at both stations. If your calendar is flexible enough for exactly one weekday, take Tuesday, July 14 — it buys you 0.64 ft more exposed beach than the best Sunday.
What does the rest of 2026 look like, month by month?
The tide keeps producing lows below +1 ft all year — roughly 19 to 23 per month at both stations. What collapses after summer is daylight:
| Month (2026) | Seattle daylight windows | Seattle daylight minus tides | Port Townsend daylight windows | Port Townsend daylight minus tides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | 22 | 18 | 23 | 19 |
| August | 20 | 13 | 21 | 13 |
| September | 7 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| October | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9447130 and 9444900 predictions.
Sum the Seattle columns: 51 daylight windows from July through December, against 126 lows below +1 ft in the same span — about 40%. And 31 of the 37 daylight minus tides (84%) are packed into July and August. November and December contribute 42 sub-+1-ft lows between them and not one daylight window; October's best candidate (October 5, a +0.10 ft low at 6:42 AM) scores 22 and sits in our "Skip" band. The year heatmap makes this cliff easy to see at a glance.
Seattle or Port Townsend?
Same moon, different clock. Port Townsend's lows run 51 minutes ahead of Seattle's on both big weekend dates — 7:58 AM versus 8:49 AM on July 11, 7:38 AM versus 8:29 AM on August 9 — and 53 to 56 minutes ahead during the deep July 12–15 run. Its windows also stretch longer: 347 minutes of daylight window on July 11 against Seattle's 275, and 370 versus 295 on July 12. Early risers and photographers get more room to work up north.
Seattle's advantage is access. The station's reference beaches — Alki Beach, Constellation Park, and Golden Gardens — sit inside the city, and recent observations within 5 km of the station include 13 sightings of horned nudibranchs and 7 of gumboot chitons in the last 60 days. Full date lists live on the Seattle station page and the Port Townsend station page; the July 2026 calendar for Seattle has every window in this article, day by day.
How do you work a window?
Use the arrive-by time, not the low time. For Seattle's July 12 window, that's 8:40 AM — an hour before the 9:40 AM low. The National Park Service's tidepooling guidance says to be at the tidepools "at least an hour before low tide" so you can explore while the water is still receding, and to head back "no later than an hour after the tide has begun to rise." NPS also warns that the route out crosses slippery, algae-covered rock and pools a foot or more deep, so wear shoes that grip when wet.
Planning a trip around one of these runs rather than a single day? The trip picker finds the multi-day stretches — it will point you at July 11–16 without being asked. And if you want to check any number in this article, the methodology page documents how windows and scores are computed from NOAA's harmonic predictions.
One of eight. Book the Sunday, or book the day off.